The present invention generally relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to an electrical connector having a lever whereby mating and unmating of the connector with a second connector is effected by movement of a slide assist mechanism caused by rotation of the lever.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,376 to Fmk et al, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, is hereby incorporated by reference herein in order that certain details of electrical connector assemblies unrelated to the present invention are not repeated herein.
Electrical connectors with a lever and slide assist mechanism for mating and unmating with a second connector are known in the art U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,175 to Busse et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,354 to Fencl, et al. and the previously cited ""376 patent to Fmk et al., disclose such connectors. Such connectors typically have a lever that is substantially U-shaped and is pivotally mounted on the housing of the connector. A pair of slide assist mechanisms are also mounted on the same housing and slide on pivoting of the lever. The slide assist mechanisms have cam surfaces which engage corresponding cam followers on the housing of the second connector. Pivoting of the lever causes the slide assist mechanisms to slide to mate or unmate the electrical connector with the second connector.
One of the problems with such assemblies is that the lever arms have a tendency to spread apart under high mating force loads encountered during mating of the connectors when rotational forces are applied to the lever. Another, and often related, problem involves one or both lever arms becoming disengaged from the adjacent slide assist mechanism. Consequently, an operator could rotate the lever without causing the connectors to fully mate. In such a situation, the rotated lever provides an illusion that the connectors are fully mated and does not provide the operator with feedback to take corrective action.
The present invention provides alternatives and advantages over the prior art in that it includes an electrical connector assembly having a slide assist member and a lever with a slide sensing mechanism which cooperate to prevent the lever from moving from a first (pre-staged) position to a second (engaged) position when the lever becomes disengaged from the slide assist member. In a preferred embodiment, the slide sensing mechanism includes a slide sensing protrusion located on each arm of a U-shaped lever which mates with a notch in the corresponding slide assist member when each slide assist member is in a second (engaged) location and the lever is in a second (engaged) position.
If at least one of the slide assist mechanisms is disengaged from the lever, the slide sensing protrusion functions to abut the disengaged slide assist member when an attempt to is made to move the lever from the first (pre-staged) position to the second (engaged) position. This prevents movement of the lever to the second (engaged) position when each of the slide assist members do not correspondingly move from the first (pre-staged) location to the second (engaged) location.
The preferred embodiment further includes a connector position assurance (CPA) mechanism which includes a CPA lock that cannot be installed unless the lever is in the second (engaged) position.
A feature of the present invention is that if a slide assist member becomes disengaged from the lever, the slide sensing mechanism prevents the lever from moving to the second (engaged) position where it could provide an operator with a false illusion that the connector is fully mated when it is not or where it could enable a CPA lock to be installed or actuated when the connector is not fully mated.
A feature of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is that if the lever becomes disengaged from the slide assist member, the lever can be reengaged by moving the lever back to the first (pre-staged) position.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following brief description of the drawings, detailed description, and appended drawings.